Compliant Full Film Lubricated Bearings: Concept Design & Development

Full film lubricated bearings are machine components that excel in their ability to carry high loads with very little friction. Their main archetypes, passive hydrodynamic and active hydrostatic bearings, are used in a wide variety of applications, ranging from hydraulic pumps to high precision machine benches. They are most commonly lubricated...

An eco-impact design metric for water lubricated bearings based on anticipatory Life Cycle Assessment

Water lubricated bearings have been named in literature as a sustainable alternative to their oil-based counterparts. In order to clarify when water lubricated bearings are or are not a sustainable alternative, and inform design decisions, an analytical design tool is introduced based on anticipatory Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). This model is...

Increasing the load capacity of planar ferrofluid bearings by the addition of ferromagnetic material

Ferrofluid pocket bearings are a type of bearing that are able to carry a load using an air pocket encapsulated by a ferrofluid seal. Previously designed ferrofluid bearings show the great potential of the stick-slip-free and low viscous friction bearings, however until now the load capacity is limited. In this article a method is presented...

Experimental results on a hydrostatic bearing lubricated with a magnetorheological fluid

Magnetorheological fluids can be used as a smart lubricant as a result of the fact that its properties can be changed with the use of a magnetic field. Local flow resistance and local pressure can be generated by applying a local magnetic field. This work presents a hydrostatic bearing in which the pressure profile of a conventional...